#4 Florida pounds #24 South Carolina

Steve Spurrier made history at “The Swamp” in Gainesville on Saturday, though it was of the sort he could have done without.  #4 Florida, who has been playing like a team possessed since their late September upset loss to Ole Miss, saddled Spurrier with the worst loss of his college coaching career was the Gators obliterated the overmatched South Carolina Gamecocks by a lopsided 56-6 margin.

Despite entering the game ranked #11 in the country in rushing defense, the Gamecocks couldn’t stop Florida’s run game led by Percy Harvin who gained a career high 167 yards while scoring two touchdowns.  QB Tim Tebow played another mistake free game, posting 173 yards of passing and two TD passes.  Tebow also added a rushing touchdown as the Gator offense had their way with the South Carolina defense en route to 519 yards of total output.  On the other side of the ball, Florida’s defense held South Carolina to 173 yards of total offense on 120 yards passing and 53 yards rushing.  Florida held a 20-11 edge in first downs and completely dominated the Gamecocks on third down, with South Carolina going 1-15 on third down conversions.

Florida enjoyed its biggest rushing day since 1989, and became the first SEC team in history to win six straight conference games by 28+ points.  Not surprisingly, the typically loquacious Spurrier had little to say in the aftermath of his team’s beatdown:

"We got clobbered. I don't know what we could have done differently except try to keep things close."

There really wasn’t any “silver lining” for the Gamecocks, who suffered their worst loss in over a decade—they lost to Steve Spurrier’s Florida Gators by a 63-7 score in 1995—and South Carolina fell to Florida for the 16th time in 17 years.  Spurrier was hard pressed to find anything positive to say about the loss:

"A loss is a loss, whether it's by one point or 50 points. Sometimes getting your butt beat real good is better than a one-pointer or two-pointer."

Presumably, he’s suggesting that the one sided rout will help better focus his team for their season ending rivalry game against Clemson on 11/29.  While South Carolina is already bowl eligible, Spurrier has been criticized by the Gamecock faithful for not delivering the wins against their hated Palmetto State rivals.

Florida, meanwhile, still has a lot of football remaining to be played.  The host 1-AA/FCS The Citadel next weekend in what should be little more than a glorified scrimmage.  They’ll then play their own rivalry game as they travel to face the fraternity brawlers from Florida State on 11/29.  The Gators will then face #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship game, played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on 12/6.